PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley travels to Venezuela on Monday to sign an agreement for the commercial exploitation of the Dragon gas field in Venezuela.

Rowley said the delegation will be travelling by way of a chartered ATR aircraft, which departs on Monday morning and is scheduled to return by afternoon.

 “When we get back from Venezuela, we will go into a bit more depth as to what the details are, what the numbers are with respect to what we have signed on to, and we meet Shell. Shell will join us in Venezuela. So between all these various parties, Monday is a very significant day for us,” he told reporters at the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Rowley said for the last year, the Energy Ministry, National Gas Company, Venezuelan oil company, and government of Venezuela had worked consistently towards arriving at a situation where commercial users of natural gas can find supplies from Venezuelan fields which are close to local users.

These discussions have progressed smoothly and there were exchanges both in Port of Spain and Caracas, and along with energy giant Shell who is partnering with Trinidad and Tobago in this exercise.

Shell, is an owner of pipelines in Trinidad and Tobago which can be considered for utilisation in the receipt of gas from Venezuela.

“So between these various parties and sitting down and discussing what is possible as a major commercial exercise, we are now at the stage where we are in a position to sign the government-to-government agreement and the commercial structure, which will open the door for commercial exploitation of the Dragon gas field in Venezuela, which is to the north of us here, just beyond the Bocas,” said Rowley.

He said the gas field would become the first major field that will supply gas from Venezuelan fields to Trinidad pipelines, towards Point Lisas to supply local facilities there.

Rowley, who said the details of the arrangements would be made public after the signing, said this was done in the context of looking after the future of Trinidad and Tobago in the medium and the long term.